Five new SUP Surfing Australian Champions have been crowned for 2017 at the fourth and final day of the Australian SUP Titles at Duranbah Beach. Kai Bates (NSW) made it back to back wins in the Open Men’s division while Shakira Westdorp (QLD) added another Australian Title to her trophy collection in the Open Women’s. Team New South Wales took out the overall victory amongst the states followed by runner up team Queensland.
A star studded line up of all New South Wales based surfers took to the water for the final heat of the competition to battle it out for the Blue Ribbon Open Men’s title. The first ten minutes saw the two young guns Kai Bates and Harry Maskell both drop some scores in the excellent range and with an eight point ride each up their sleeves the bar was set high for the other two contenders. Bates was smart with his wave selection, picking the best of the peaks on offer and demonstrating some very progressive moves on the inside sections to hold off Maskell, James Casey and Andrew Cassidy who finish accordingly.
“I’m so stoked, it’s such a good feeling to get it for another year. I really needed a result to finish this year off and I’m over the moon to win it again, it feels like a dream come true,” said Bates.
“There’s some serious competition out there, Harry is ripping and showing everyone that the level is going up even more each year and it makes me want to surf better.”
The Open Women’s final saw a New South Wales versus Queensland Battle amongst four of Australia’s best female SUP surfers. Two time SUP Surfing World Champion and Gold Coast local Shakira Westdorp looked relaxed as she surfed her way to yet another Open Women’s Australia Title, managing to take down Torrene Black (NSW), Kaylan Dahl (QLD) and Skyla Rayner (NSW). With a first wave score of 7.50 backed up by a 7.00 the national title veteran demonstrated some of her text book drop wallet lay back turns and was difficult to beat late in the afternoon.
“I love competing in the Australian SUP Titles every year, this will be my seventh year competing here and the standard of surfing keeps improving, it was so competitive this week,” said Westdorp.
“Winning this event now gives me the chance to go to ISA and try to bring home another World Title.”
The Over 40 Men’s final saw a close battle between Glenn Turner (NSW), Marty Cole (NSW), Ben Mardon (WA) and Paul Jones (QLD) with only .35 points separating first and second. It was Turner who took the lead mid way through the heat and despite various attempts from his challengers, managed to hold off the field until the final siren sounded.
A similar story played out in the Over 40 Women’s final, where a nail biting finish saw Victorian Gwen Carbone take out Narelle Kuppers (WA) to claim the 2017 title. In the Over 50 Men’s final a very solid performance from power surfer Adam Robinson saw him take the honours for 2017, adding another medal to the NSW tally.
Results:
Open Mens
- Kai Bates
- Harry Maskell
- James Casey
- Andrew Cassidy
Open Womens
- Shakira Westdorp
- Torrene Black
- Kaylan Dahl
- Skyla Rayner
Over 40 Mens
- Glen Turner
- Marty Cole
- Ben Mardon
- Paul Jones
Over 40 Womens
- Gwen Carbone
- Narelle Kuppers
- Melissa McManus
- Erika Oemcke
Over 50 Mens
- Adam Robinson
- Michael Stokes
- Pat Eastwood
- John Takle
For more information, visit: http://www.australiansuptitles.com
The 2017 Australian SUP Titles is proudly supported by Australia’s Gold Coast, Hydralyte Sports, Currumbin RSL, Toyota, The International Surfing Association, Surfing Queensland and Surfing Australia.